Autumn Bat Box checks 2017

Thanks to a break in the weather we managed to complete the bat box checks across the whole forest. A grand total of 72 bats of 6 species were recorded – Common and Soprano pipitrelle, Daubenton’s, Natterer’s, Brown long-eared and Noctule. Brown long-eared was an extra species to or spring checks and were found at Wykeham and Keys Beck. The latter site produced a total of 3 bats this time which was a nice surprise after a complete blank in the spring check. During the checks we also managed to add replacement boxes in both Wykeham and Broadhead to replace the damaged ones removed during the spring.

We plan to do some repairs on the hibernation boxes at Broadhead soon and also add some replacement boxes to Pexton Ponds area where there are only a few good boxes left at present. The Broadhead hibernation boxes clearly contain a maternity colony during the summer as there was 5-6cms of droppings in the bottom of both of the boxes and a Noctule was still present when we did the check.

At Dalby Beck we found a male Natterer’s with a ring on – Y2833. A quick ask around of John Altringham and John Drewitt originally lead us to believe we had misread the ring as there was a male Natterer’s, Y3833, ringed at the windy pits in 2003. It later transpired that the bat had actually been rung at Ellerburn church in 2013 and Y2833 was the correct number. It has been recorded at the church each year since it was ringed.